Following the lead of cities like Chicago and Hong Kong, Gainesville is launching a pilot program to attract and educate tourists and residents about the city's history.
Gainesville Cultural Affairs is developing a free cell phone tour of Gainesville that will allow visitors to dial into a prerecorded tour message given by a virtual guide to the city.
The tour is expected to be ready for operation by the end of November, said Miriam Deckert, tourism marketer for Gainesville.
As of now, phone tours are planned to feature the north and south sides of the historic district near downtown and northeast Gainesville.
Deckert said signs will be posted in featured areas stating, "Let your cell phone be your guide" and will show a phone number and code to dial to hear information.
The messages will tell about the history of the area and how it's been a part of Gainesville's culture, she said.
"We want people to see that there's lots of other things to do here," she said, "not just football."
She said the tour is still in planning stages, so more locations could be featured as the tour expands and develops.
Coni Gesualdi, director of cultural affairs for Gainesville, said the Thomas Center gallery started using a cell phone tour in a recent exhibit, and it turned out to be a hit.
"It's like having your own personal guide," Gesualdi said. "It's much more interesting than just coming into a building and just wandering around on your own."
She said she wants the tour to eventually extend to other places, including Alachua County's several veterans' memorials.
"This is a way of getting more information than your eyes can give you," she said.
Rie Burton, an associate of the Thomas Center, which is one of the tour's featured stops, said she is optimistic that people would use the service.
Being familiar with local history is important not only for residents but for those visiting the city, Burton said.
The virtual tours will give people more information about the location than what they could learn from a brochure, she said.
She also said everyone involved is looking forward to the public's reaction to the tour and thinking positively about the benefits of the tour for the city and its residents.
"It's an experiment," she said. "We'll just have to wait and see how many people take advantage of it."
